Spinning Dust in the Milky Way

Planck_planck15-002g_1024

planck_planck15-002g February 5th, 2015

Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech

A new portrait of the Milky Way reveals the distribution of the tiniest dust particles found in the galaxy. This image comes from the European Space Agency's Planck mission, in which NASA plays an important role. It is constructed from observations made at microwave and millimeter wavelengths of light, which are longer than what we see with our eyes.

Microscopic dust particles floating in interstellar space are not static, but spin around like tops due to collisions with other atoms and molecules. This rotation generates a characteristic kind of light that has been detected and measured by the Planck mission. Larger dust particles do not spin in the same way, but can be seen through their thermal glow.

Provider: Planck

Image Source: http://planck.ipac.caltech.edu/image/planck15-002g

Curator: NASA Planck Science Center, Pasadena, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: Public Domain

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Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Milky Way
Subject - Milky Way
Galaxy
Nebula > Type > Star Formation
Planck_planck15-002g_1280
×
ID
planck15-002g
Subject Category
B.5   B.4.1.2  
Subject Name
Milky Way
Credits
ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech
Release Date
2015-02-05
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
http://planck.ipac.caltech.edu/image/planck15-002g
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Instrument
Color Assignment
Band
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
12706, 6353
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
NASA Planck Science Center
URL
http://planck.ipac.caltech.edu
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
1200 E. California Blvd.
City
Pasadena
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
91125
Country
USA
Rights
Public Domain
Publisher
Publisher ID
planck
Resource ID
Metadata Date
2018-06-20T23:54:22Z
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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